News

My Favorite Things from D23 2017!

D23 Expo is one of Disney’s biggest parties of the year, and it happened this last weekend. Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars have taken a step back from Comic Con to focus on this Expo to show off their biggest coming attractions. This year didn’t disappoint! We saw everything from Avengers: Infinity Wars, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, their upcoming video games like Kingdom Hearts, and so much more!

Here were my top favorite things from this year’s D23!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

If you follow my work here on What the Fangirl, you know that I’m a major Star Wars fan. I live it, breathe it, podcast it, and everything in between. I am desperately awaiting The Last Jedi in December to see what happens next to new characters Rey, Finn, and Poe. I know my heart isn’t ready to see Carrie Fisher for the last time as General Leia Organa. From the teaser trailer, the buzz is about why Luke Skywalker said it’s time for the Jedi Order to end. Theories flying all over the internet about that one!

While the announcements of the new resorts and Star Wars parks coming soon were cool to see, it was the behind the scenes footage of The Last Jedi that won the day for me. I moved to tears hearing Carrie say that Star Wars is about family. Fandom is family. Fandom is a place to belong. It’s a very important part of my daily life. The video is beautiful, touching, and got me so excited for December to finally get here.

Kingdom Hearts III

To quote Titanic, “it’s been 84 years” since the Kingdom Hearts II came out. Okay, not really. It feels like it though! Even though we’ve had a slew of in between games since KHII came out in 2005, fans including myself eagerly awaited Kingdom Hearts III. It was supposed to be on the PS3. It got pushed back to the PS4. Every E3 the last few years, we either got glimpses of the game or it wasn’t brought to the table. There hadn’t been any word of a release date.

That changed this past weekend (sort of). KHIII already promised new worlds like Tangled (please excuse my excited screaming! That’s my favorite Disney Princess!). This year’s D23 not only showcased a brand new world, but we also got somewhat of a release date. KHIII is for sure coming in 2018. Whether that’s January or Christmas, we still don’t know. It’s good to know that it’s just around the corner.

The new world is Toy Story marking the game’s first jump into the Pixar franchises. My God, it’s freaking beautiful. Buzz and Woody are clean and crisp just like their movie counterparts. The detailing in Andy’s room and the outside world took my breath away. It’s common in the games for the heroes Sora, Donald, and Goofy to get customized for the worlds (my favorite is still the Nightmare Before Christmas world). Their toy designs are really adorable for the new game.

Check out the newest trailer below!

A Wrinkle in Time, Avengers: Infinity War, Mary Poppins Returns, and More!

D23 brought sneak peeks of many of their upcoming live action movies. There was a slew of them, so I’m going to focus on the ones I particularly care about.

First up, Disney featured their first extended look at A Wrinkle in Time. This has always been one of my favorite childhood novels. I did a re-read a couple years back, and I’m feeling another one before the movie. In it, we get our first look at Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which portraying these iconic characters. Chris Pine is the missing scientist father Dr. Murry. We also see newcomer Storm Reid as the hero Meg Murry. The trailer is gorgeous. The scene in the neighborhood when all the children bouncing balls in sync still gives me chills.

Also, hurray for interracial marriages on screen!

Next up, Marvel showed their first sneak peek at Avengers: Infinity War. At the time of this article, the footage hasn’t been released to the public. Luckily, io9 went into a huge amount of detail with a scene by scene breakdown. The footage featured the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, Loki, and of course the big bad, Thanos. I’m not going to write out each scene since the great people over at i09 already did it. I suggest clicking on that link and giving it a read. It sounds absolutely amazing!

Next, a full trailer of Mary Poppins Returns wasn’t ready in time for the Expo. I can only assume the trailer is right around the corner since the movie is out in December. They did show some footage including Lin Manuel-Miranda’s character, but this hasn’t been released yet to the public. They also release a little video showing Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins.

Last but not least, they finally cast the three main characters in the live action Aladdin movie. The film reported about a week ago they struggled to cast the title roles even though well named and award winning actors like Riz Ahmed and Dev Patel were still in the running. Disney announced at the Expo they finally found their title character following casting Naomi Scott (Power Rangers) as Princess Jasmine.

Relative newcomer Mena Massoud will be Aladdin. Disney also confirmed that Will Smith will be the Genie following in the footsteps of Robin Williams.

The role of Jafar hasn’t been cast. I’m still holding out for Riz Ahmed to be the iconic villain.

Sequels You’ve Wanted are Coming

I understand the need for making sequel films. They’re cheaper and faster to make since many of the character models are updated to newer technology. They help give revenue to Disney for original projects. It fills in time until those original works can be released. It’s a important part of Disney and Pixar and how they work. Some sequels weren’t needed at all (like Planes. Ugh.). Others, fans have waited for years to revisit these worlds. Finally, we’re getting some of those coming soon.

One of my favorite Pixar and superhero movies of all times was the 2004 hit The Incredibles. The much anticipated sequel will pick up right where the first movie left off.

Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter told IGN, “It starts right as the first one finishes, so it just carries on … It starts with the Underminer and a big old set piece. You know that at the end of the first movie when he comes up and you see the family dressed as superheroes, well that’s where start this movie.”

Lasseter also added, “One of the unique things about the Incredibles is it’s really a story of a family set in the world of superheroes. This one carries on that theme,” he said. “It’s awesome, the idea we came up with—simple as that. … We love to really look at our own lives and look at what’s going on, and find themes that we know will resonate with the audience.”

Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 hit the stage this weekend with new information about the sequel to the 2012 Oscar nominated movie. Following the events of the first film, the game crew’s machine needs a part to be replaced. This gives them access to the internet where our heroes discover a much bigger world out there.

Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson joins the cast along with returning Disney favorites. This reveal came in a scene when Vanellope meets the Disney Princesses and wants to update them. The Hollywood Reporter gave a summary of the scene:

The clip showed Vanellope, in a website named OhMyDisney.com, meeting all the Disney princesses in the hopes of stirring up some trouble. But as she interacts with them — in ways that, in rapid succession, lovingly skewer the history and tropes of Disney animated classics and princesses — she develops a respect for them. And she gives them a wardrobe change.

Many of the original voices of the princesses returned for the scene, and those actresses then made an appearance at the presentation. Jodi Benson (Ariel), Paige O’Hara (Belle), Linda Larkin (Jasmine), Irene Bedard (Pocahontas), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Kelly Macdonald (Merida), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) and Kristen Bell (Anna) took the stage in a historic meeting of Disney princesses, causing a prolonged ovation from the crowd.

This clip hasn’t been released to the public, but I cannot wait to see it!

Those were my favorite moments from D23 2017! What were some of your top moments? Let us know in the comments!

Post Views: 365

Like this:

Hope set out into the world to be a Pokemon Coordinator. When she realized that Pokemon were not real, she pursued her other passion: writing.
Hope was raised in fandoms and saw how they can help save the world from her work with The Harry Potter Alliance. Now, she works to bring that love into writing one article at a time.
She's also a diehard Atlanta Braves fan, so don't diss her team.